Kao the Kangaroo | PS5 Review

Who could forget the glory days of 3D platformers? Many of us of the proper age probably look back fondly to games like Donkey Kong 64, Spyro the Dragon, Jumping Flash, and of course, Super Mario 64. Those who enjoyed them loved scouring environments looking for collectibles in an attempt to achieve that highly-sought after 100% completion mark. Kao the Kangaroo from Tate Multimedia aims to scratch that itch with another entry into the series that began in 2000.

While it looks and plays exceptionally, it misses the mark of the previously-mentioned titles. Its lack of high-end level design and overly simplistic combat system keep it from being as good as it could have been. On top of that, a severe lack of controller configuration makes it incredibly frustrating. I still had some fun with it, however, and it might be worth your time. That is, of course, you don’t mind not being able to invert your view control.

Just a Kangaroo and His Dad

Kao is an adolescent kangaroo living with his two parents and his sister on a happy island. His father left a long time ago to pursue the life of a hero and never returned. Kao and his sister set off to find his whereabouts. Naturally, the sister winds up going missing, and now it’s up to Kao to rescue both of them. He soon acquires magical, sentient boxing gloves and gains permission from his mother to set off on his adventure. No, I’m not making any of that up.

I don’t judge Kao the Kangaroo for its silly story. To be fair, if you boil down any of the stories from our childhood down to the basics, they’re all pretty ridiculous. I actually appreciate that the writers don’t take themselves too seriously and just made a fun backdrop to the gameplay. My only real issue here is the overly cheesy one-liners that feel a bit “trying too hard.” Weird twists on pop culture phrases don’t land as cleverly as intended, and I rolled my eyes on more than one occasion. On top of that, the voice talent present here is passable at best. But that’s not what drew me to this title anyway.

A Lot to Love

When it comes to Kao‘s gameplay, things start to look up. You control our Hero in three dimensions, much like other familiar titles. He can double jump, punch his enemies, and even hang from overhead mesh areas by his ears. Controls are very responsive and work very much as they should. I applaud the developers on a jank-free final product.

Additionally, the environments and character designs look quite impressive. Everything is very bright and inviting. When I first fired up the game, I couldn’t wait to explore. Even the boss battles were much more clever than I expected. Each had its own special sort of “puzzle” to overcome that I appreciated a great deal. Also, the chase sequences and “grinding on rails” areas were legitimately fun to play, although short-lived.

Why Do You Do This To Me?

Unfortunately, there’s one huge setback for me that I know won’t apply to everyone. For some odd reason, the decision was made to not allow inversion of the Y-axis. As a long time inverter, I found this to be incredibly insufferable. The fact that a new game in 2022 exists without this option is absolutely unforgivable. If I hadn’t been reviewing this title, I would have given up long before reaching the end. Even though the view isn’t super vital to success, it immediately makes me work to enjoy the game. And that’s never a good thing.

The combat is rudimentary at best. Kao punches his enemies, and doing so raises a combo meter. Once it’s maxed out, you can unleash a slow-mo area of effect attack for extra damage. And that’s it. That’s the only attack you’ll have when encountering enemies. Granted, you’ll eventually be given three different “powers” for your boxing gloves: fire, ice, and wind. But these are used more for very simplistic puzzles, such as “burn this wood” or “freeze this water.” To make matters worse, there’s no real challenge to them. The power up you need to complete your task is almost always in the same room. So when you find a puzzle, it becomes more of a game of finding said item in the room. Clearly this game was designed for people new to the genre.

I also found myself annoyed by the gatekeeping in Kao the Kangaroo. Much like in Mario 64, I needed to collect a certain number of runes (akin to stars) in order to unlock the next platforming stage. This was fine at first, as the runes are very hard to miss outside of the ones located in the hub worlds. I hit a wall when I went to face the final boss. As it turns out, I needed all but two of the runes in the entire game to be able to finish it. Just let me beat the game already! With no direction how to find them outside of a simple stat tracker in the sub menu, it became a pain to have to randomly search areas in the hope of finding what I needed to actually complete the game.

Kao the Kangaroo Final Verdict

I wanted to love Kao the Kangaroo. The trailer truly sold me on a trip down nostalgia lane with a current-gen varnish. While it looks and responds exactly the way that it should, there’s simply too many marks against it to recommend. That is, unless, you have younger children that need an introduction to 3D platformers. Even then, I’d still suggest going back to the tried and true classics. It’s a shame, because a lot impressed with me this title, but a lot frustrated me even more.

To hear me talk more about Kao the Kangaroo, be sure to listen to Episode 399 of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 45:08 time stamp.

This review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy of Kao the Kangaroo provided by Renaissance PR for coverage purposes. It is also available on PlayStation 4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Kao the Kangaroom

$29.99

5

The Final Verdict

5.0/10

Pros

• Beautifully Vibrant Art
• Mechanically Sound
• Clever Boss Fights
• Fun Escape/Rail Grinding Sequences

Cons

• No Inverted Control Scheme
• Overly Simplistic Combat
• Subpar Voice Acting

Buy Kao the Kangaroo on the PlayStation Store Here